NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-04-2025 12PM EST

Episode Date: February 4, 2025

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Our long national nightmare is over. Beyonce has finally won the Grammy for Album of the Year. How and why did it take so long for Beyonce to win the top prize at Music's Biggest Night? We're talking about her big wins and breaking down the Grammys for Kendrick Lamar, Chappell Rhone, and Sabrina Carpenter. Listen to the Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s nomination to be President Trump's Health and Human Services Secretary cleared an important hurdle this morning. The Senate Finance Committee voted along party lines 14 to 13 in favor of sending his nomination

to the full Senate. Republican U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana cast a key vote in favor of Kennedy. A physician, Cassidy spoke in personal terms during hearings last week about his experiences with patients who suffered from lifelong health consequences because they were unvaccinated. On Thursday, Cassidy said he was struggling with the decision on Kennedy's nomination because of the candidate's decades of anti-vaccine activism. Cassidy said he was struggling with the decision on Kennedy's nomination because of the candidate's decades of anti-vaccine activism. Cassidy ultimately voted in Kennedy's favor. Sources tell NPR President Trump is preparing to take executive action to make big cuts at the U.S. Department of Education.

Here's NPR's Kori Turner. Multiple sources not allowed to speak publicly tell NPR the Trump administration is preparing to take executive action to cut and try to close the department. The two-prong plan is to quickly shrink it from the inside by shedding programs that were not explicitly created by Congress and thus not protected by law. The challenge there is the department itself and most of its signature responsibilities are protected and can only be changed by Congress. This includes administering Title I, which sends extra funding to low-income schools,

and IDEA, the civil rights law that safeguards special education. The potential executive action would call on Congress to strip the Department of these duties and wind it down. Corey Turner, NPR News. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to meet with President Trump at the White House today. NPR's Kat Lonsdorf has more from Tel Aviv. Netanyahu was invited to the White House by Trump, the first foreign leader to visit Trump

since he began his second term. The two leaders have much to discuss, like the Abraham Accords and the normalization of relations with Saudi Arabia and how to deal with Iran. But most immediately is Gaza, as talks of the next phase of the fragile ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas begin this week, with the U.S. acting as a key mediator. Trump has also recently floated the very controversial idea

of relocating Palestinians from Gaza to neighboring Egypt or Jordan, something Palestinians, Egypt and Jordan, all reject. Netanyahu and Trump are expected to hold a press conference later this evening after they meet. Kat Lonsdorf, NPR News, Tel Aviv. Trump stalled back the opening salvo of his trade war. Here's NPR's Scott Horsley.

Investors breathed a sigh of relief after Trump agreed to suspend 25 percent tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada for at least a month. The move came after the two countries made face-saving concessions to strengthen border security. The Trump administration followed through, however, with a smaller 10% tax on imports from China, which took effect just after midnight. China's pushing back by taxing U.S. exports of coal, crude oil, and natural gas, and by launching a new antitrust investigation of Google.

It's NPR. The New Jersey man charged with attacking author Salman Rushdie with a knife in 2022 is now on trial in New York. Jury selection is underway in Hadi Matara's case. The defendant is charged with assaulting and trying to murder Rushdie as the author took the stage at an event. Rushdie suffered serious injuries.

Matara also faces separate federal terrorism-related charges in the case. The increase of marijuana sales across the U.S. is also boosting popularity of weed vapes. And PR as Yukinoguchi reports, little is known about the safety of most of these vape products. There is scant research on the health effects of vaping marijuana. Like e-cigarettes, they may offer some benefits over smoking. But that's not clear because vapes also contain chemical additives other than psychoactive THC, and each vape brand can contain very different additives. Josh Sweeter runs Infinite Chemical Analysis labs, which safety tests marijuana products.

He regularly finds additives in vapes that evade state regulations. Pesticides, solvents, heavy metals, micro toxins. Sweeter advises consumers of vaped weed to seek out brands committed to rigorous safety standards. Yuki Noguchi, NPR News. Signaling a cooling labor market, the government reports U.S. job openings fell from roughly 8 million in November to about 7.5 million in December. U.S. stocks trading higher today, the Dow up nearly 100 points.

This is NPR News.